No more waiting (English)
by Anya M
Summary: The red thread legend has always been special to me. Even more, now. (OC)


**_Red thread_**

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><p><em>Please, remember that I'm not an English nativer speaker. If you see any mistake or a better way to say things, don't hesitate to mention it. Thank you ~<em>**  
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><p>"Have you ever heard of the red thread legend ? "<p>

The white-haired boy raised a finger at her, requesting her to wait, and finished his paragraph. French still gave him a hard time, even though young-adult novels became more and more accessible. He put down the book after slipping a bookmark into it and smiled at the girl who kept her eyes focused on her tablet's screen. Noticing her grin, he replied to her, lying back on the wall she was leaning against : "I think I have. Why ?"

Elnöra stretched, groaning, and rested her head on the Guardian's shoulder. Grabbing his hand, she played with his fingers, intertwining them with hers and tickling the hollow of his palm.

" I've always found it interesting and meaningful. And I've been thinking about it more and more. "

Giving him a side glance, she added : " Especially since I met you. "

Jack's smile grew wider and his fingers locked Elnöra's hand for a few seconds. She freed herself from his grip and went on, tracing meaningless signs and drawings on the frozen skin.

" This red thread is supposed to link two soulmates through time and space. And no matter how long it takes, they'll always find each other. "

He was watching her, noting the freckles which had appeared during the first Summer's afternoons. Sun had colored her face and brought redness in the most improbable spots of her body. This season did match her sunny personality and the warmth that he had so much trouble understanding, he could feel it with her.

" It can take a lifetime, the string may be stretched and tangled, it will never ever break.

- It's beautiful.

- Yeah.

- A little cheesy, but beautiful. "

Giggling, she gave his inner thigh a gentle tap and stuck her nose in the crook of his neck. No matter the place ; as long as Jack was by her sides, it felt like home. The mood was lighter, the sun brighter and the colours more radiant. She was dreaming of trips and memories to make, of flights into the azure sky and orangey dusks. She was hoping for music, dance and the taste of fruits on her tongue.

Soon.

" Why did you mention it ? " asked Jack in a supposedly detached tone, yet tinged with a curiosity he couldn't conceal to her.

" I was waiting for you to ask this."

Turning away from him, Elnöra grabbed something on the ground, hastening to hide it between her fists.

« Close your eyes.

- Can't you just show me ?

- Shhht ! Close them ! »

He did so in a false-irritated way. Opened an eye. Met two others topped with furrowed brows. Articulated a "Fine" between two chuckles.

« Don't cheat.

- I won't.

- I know you will.

- Then why asking ?

- Because. Can it. »

Jack's hands had found the young woman's again. He was playing at stealing them away from her, grinning at every one of her tongue's peeved clicks, but soon focused on what she was plotting. In a few seconds, she had knotted what seemed to be a small rope around his pinkie. He could hear her fidgeting and, not feeling her contact anymore, ventured to open an eye, which cost him a flick on the nose. Muttering and massing his painful bridge, he yet realized that he had noticed something red.

« I know what you're doing, Jack crooned, raising his chin like a child proud of his discovery.

- Good for you. Could you please get up ?

- Wow. Being polite and everythi-

- Just… get up. »

The pressure around his phalanx grew stronger, urging him to slip out of the sheets to stand up and follow the direction given by the thread tied around his finger.

« Can I open my eyes, now ?

- What ? You actually kept them closed ?

- I'll take that as a yes. »

Slowly spreading his eyelids, he found Elnöra, standing on the carpet, barefoot and expressionless. She dropped the long red line she was holding, its end fastened on her pinkie. The girl looked like a caught out kid, waiting for their parents' reaction to make sure of the situation's seriousness. Tenderness flooded the Guardian's face and he responded to his friend's smile.

« So, now, I need a leash when we go out ? »

The hazel eyes sparkled with mischievousness.

« Be happy I didn't cut it shorter.

- Yes, mistress. »

Elnöra's laughter resounded for a moment and he thought he'd felt his heart leap towards her. The thread, resting on the floor, must have been a little less than ten feet. Blue eyes were staring at her with interest when she resumed.

« Anyway, it's not like I could keep you locked in. You're Freedom. The wind carries you wherever-

- I want it to.

- Yeah. »

Jack wasn't sure to understand what she was aiming to do. The fear of hurting her or being clumsy kept him still, as his fingers were opening and closing, rhythming seconds. There was in this gesture a symbol he was not certain to grasp and a bitter hope was wringing his throat.

« You're Freedom, but I still can do this. »

Turning talk into action, the young woman threw the thin rope at him, making it pass in his back, as a cowboy lassoing a recalcitrant calf. A crooked smile stretched on the boy's face, letting out a chuckle as he noted Elnöra's eyebrows waggling feverishly.

« Ooh… Kanky.

- Ain't it ? »

It was so easy. So sweet.

Jack stepped forward, seizing the ruby thread between his fingers to throw it above the white with lilac glints hair.

« Is that a challenge, young lady ?

- What if it is, old man ?

- Could be dangerous. You're talking to a tangling master, here.

- You clearly haven't seen me playing with strings before.

- Oh yeah ?

- Oh yeah ! »

It didn't take more to trigger their chuckles and the most ridiculous fight of the whole History.

They muddled and mingled the thread and their bodies, giggling at the most stupid positions and shouting when their balance was thrown off. Meddling innocent taunting and the most deceitful techniques to destabilize her, Jack thought how much he appreciated this in El' ; her optimism, her will not to let embarrassment settle down and her gift to laugh at the simplest things… and the most complicated ones. They had their weaknesses and moments of doubt, but what frightened him before drove him to go on. And it could be hard. And scary. But he regretted nothing.

« Are you giving up ? »

Elnöra was staring at him, brows furrowed, her chest heaving quickly between two chuckles during that small respite. The boy turned on his heels to get rid of the thread length she had adorned him with and rolled his arms quickly to wind the rope around his wrists, forcing the young woman to move forward. She squealed, pretending to struggle, but stopped as soon as he had grabbed the back of her skull to plant a kiss on her lips. He added, a derisive look on his features :

« Me ? Giving up ? Never. »

Blushing, the girl retorted by purely and simply pushing Jack who tripped, cackling, and, the thread still around his wrists, dragged his friend along in his fall. Lying on the mattress, the boy barely had time to take a breath that his opponent moved into attack again, revealing a technique she knew would prove effective. Her fingers skittered on the Guardian's ribs and belly, getting out bursts of laughter, muffled by his rasping breath and imploring cries.

« No ! No ! El' ! Haha ! N- Not fair !

- I can't hear you. »

In a swift gesture, she immobilized his hands by tying the line around them and went on with her torture until no more sound would escape Jack's throat. When he was laughing so hard it became inaudible, she knew she had done a great job. Tears in his eyes, he was slowly recovering a less greedy breath, as she was freeing him before leaning on him. His sighs of relief wouldn't manage to conceal the giggles which threatened to burst again at every of the young woman's suspicious gestures. She seemed calmed down, though, sated with the other fighter's suffering, and was looking at him with a bright smile on her lips, in harmony with her raspberry-looking cheeks.

« I'll have my revenge, you know ?

- Yeah, you always do. »

They knowingly sat up and Jack undertook to untangle the puzzle he was meddled in.

« Jack ? »

He needed no further explanation to know he had to stop. Elnöra's eyes were gleaming with curiosity, uncertainty and affection. Play time was over, having colored the atmosphere with joy and a complicity she'd only allow with him. When she looked away, he understood it was important ; she had that way of being, so characteristic, when she was about to confide in him something that mattered or that scared her. She was now going to blink, breathe in, then look at him anew before carrying on, leaving her breath suspended, showing her doubts and anguishes.

Elnöra had taught him patience. Discovering those details that made her so… "her" was one of the advantages to remain silent. The room, colored with their laughs and their children's games, was filled with calm.

« Jack. » she repeated, taking his hand in hers. She had often needed that contact, even though her eyes had trouble making one. « I've been thinking about this for so long and now I can't find the words. » Her fingers slid behind her ears, aiming to hang her longer hair lock, now gone ; despite time, she couldn't drop that mechanical gesture.

He could have told her that he understood, that words weren't necessary anymore, but it would have been a lie. He needed that. He needed her voice to utter the words he couldn't find or dared not express. All this time, Jack had been used not to expect any answer ; he had little by little learnt words' weight again and the meaning of silences together. He needed her to understand himself, to find himself.

« I've been waiting for you, Jack. For a long time. Longer than I can express. »

While offering those sentences, the child-at-hearted young woman twisted the thread between each of her fingers. Her tone seemed calm, but the uncontrolled shakes punctuating her sayings were betraying her.

« It was more than this life. Beyond this time and many others. It's as if everything settled back in place when I found you. When you found me, I had the feeling… it was right. »

Her eyes were close to tears, words close to her heart. He would catch her if she were to vacillate. He always would.

« I've been waiting for so long… and now that I found you, I- »

Her eyelids were not wide enough to keep the water which was slipping out. Jack knew what she wanted to say, even though he felt she was not able to do so. Time was no more in their favour. Time, which had placed her on his way, wanted her back. It was not Elnöra who was advancing too fast, it was he who had been stuck at the same place. For more than three hundred years.

« But I don't want to think about that. »

She squeezed his hand in hers, rubbing at the red thread she had tied on his finger with her thumb.

« I want… I want to believe there's more than that. I want to believe there's a reason in all this and- »

She gulped, swallowing down the knot which was tightening her throat.

« I want to be there. »

He knew of her doubts, as well as he was concealing his. He knew of the questions and, which was new, of the fear for the future. He would have given anything so she would not feel it again. The Guardian tilted his face closer to hers.

« El'-

- I'm alright. I- I want to finish this. »

He said nothing, pressed her fingers and waited. Time was unreeling at full speed and he was scared of not being able to join her.

She looked up at him.

« I love you. »

Put a hand on his cheek.

« I can't bring myself to think about what you've been through. I don't want to. I am clumsy, hypersensitive and usually anxious. I happen to be moody and pessimistic from time to time. I don't trust myself enough and I am often too hard on me. I am little, but hope for big. I can be strong, but I feel weak. »

She needed that truth. She needed him to hear it as well.

« I am all this and more. But also less. »

Their foreheads met. He felt a tear landing on his thumb.

« And I love you, Jack. I love you. »

His back and arms bristled with gooseflesh. His breath was jerky with emotion.

« And now that I've found you, I won't let you go. »

Jack closed his eyes. He wanted to absorb the warmth on his skin, the sounds in the hollow of his ears and their meaning in his soul. This moment was rare, new. He wouldn't let it fly away.

« You're not alone. You will never be alone. I'll be there as long as you need me. I want to believe it's for a long time. »

Something was missing.

Expectation was oppressing the boy's chest. He had let so many things through by fear of ending alone. Too many people had been swept away because of the only thing he had no power over. Although he had searched the whole ground and sky, never had he discovered that missing piece. That hope he was terrified of seizing. That item that could only be part of himself.

« Jack, I-

- I… I understand, El'. »

Gently taking hold of the fingers laying on his cheek, he opened his eyes. She was staring at him, her voice hanging on his every word, each of her gestures following his. Jack noted absent-mindedly that the line was surrounding them both. He kissed her hands, straightened up.

« No more waiting. »

The child from Ailleurs furrowed her brows imperceptibly. He smoothed them with the kisses he left on each of her eyelids.

« No more waiting… since you're here. »

Her heart drummed against her ribs and she let out a soft laughter she was not expecting. She was dreaming of voyages around the world and breathtaking landscapes.

« I love you, El'. I love you. »

Their noses brushed and the tip of hiers picked a salted frozen pearl. She was dreaming of bursts of laughter and moon water under her feet.

« As long as I have you, I'll be okay. »

Jack's words took refuge in her heart.

She was hoping for life and what goes beyond.

Their lips touched, stammering kisses and children's nonsense. Their hands, interlaced, didn't seem to part.

« I'm not good with words. » he sighed. « I need time.

- Don't worry. It's plenty enough. Cheesy. But enough. »

His laughter. The tears meddling in. The promises and hope in his eyes. There was so much to say, so much to reveal.

She was dreaming of never-ending story and magical beginning.

« Thank you, El'.

- For what ?

- For this. »

Crooked smile. Shining eyes.

« Thank you for finding me, she replied.

- Thank you for not letting me go. »

Flight from fear... All was meaningless without her. Elnöra slipped into his arms, still holding Jack's fingers between hers.

The red thread never looked so bright.

The girl's voice rose.

« I have you, you have me. Remember ? »

He welcomed her against him. He knew so many things, but struggled to express them. Her understanding was not enough anymore. She deserved more words, more time.

He wanted to offer her those beyond anything.

« I do. I do. Thank you, El'. »

He wanted to open her eyes as well.

« Thank you. »

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><p>087/2014.


End file.
